1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chuck apparatus capable of gripping a workpiece by allowing a gripping mechanism to perform an opening/closing operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a chuck apparatus is known, which is attached, for example, to the forward end of a machine tool and which grips, for example, a variety of parts by allowing the chuck to perform an opening/closing operation by means of a driving force. The present applicant has proposed a chuck apparatus provided with a pair of gripping pawls, which are openable and closable by means of the driving force brought about by a driving source such as a motor (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-161454). In general, when a variety of workpieces having different shapes are gripped, a plurality of chuck apparatuses as described above are combined, wherein a given chuck apparatus is used properly and separately depending on the shapes of the workpieces, in response to situations in which the portion to be gripped differs depending on the workpiece. However, in recent years, there has been a demand for a single chuck apparatus, which is capable of gripping a variety of different workpieces.